Usher said he doesn’t have “anything negative” to say about Sean “Diddy” Combs, and instead is choosing to remember Combs’ legacy and his “valuable contributions” rather than the abuse allegations that surround the Bad Boy mogul.
The Confessions singer spoke at length to Forbes about his feelings toward his former mentor, whom he lived with as a teenager in New York during the recording of his self-titled debut album in 1994.
Since November 2023, Combs has been engulfed by accusations of sexual assault and physical violence after his ex-girlfriend the singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura sued him, which led to more than 50 similar civil lawsuits and a federal sex-trafficking trial against the music executive. Combs has denied all accusations of sexual assault, and last summer was acquitted of sex-trafficking charges, but was convicted on lesser prostitution charges. He is currently appealing the conviction while serving a four-year prison sentence.
In last week’s episode of The Enterprise Zone, interviewer Jabari Young asked Usher what was the first word that came to mind when he listed a number of Usher’s music industry influences, friends and mentors, including Jermaine Dupri, L.A. Reid, Babyface, Pebbles, and Lil Jon. When it came to Combs, Usher took a beat and responded “legacy.”
“In many ways, I think certain people are prosecuted and maybe not recognized for the greatness that they offer,” Usher explained, hedging that his viewpoint might be considered controversial. “I don’t have anything negative to say about Sean Combs because my experience was not what the world has seen, and how he’s been misrepresented.”
Usher said that he was able to seperate Combs’ own admittance to domestic violence in his past relationships and the sexual assault allegations surrounding him — noting that people have “flaws” — because of the pathway Combs was able to provide for Black musicians and businesspeople.
“I’m not saying that every man is perfect. I’m not saying that all of us don’t have flaws,” Usher added. “But I can’t with any sense of humanity not recognize the valuable contributions that this man made for us as Black entrepreneurs, for us as businessmen, for us as people who have transitioned culture and ideas into something that’s tangible. So many people benefitted from what he created and I acknowledge that.”
Usher said he puts respect on Combs’ name “because I realized that what I learned as a businessman before I even understood what business was came as a result of seeing the incredible things that he was able to do and the way that he positioned himself as a businessman.”
During Combs’ high-profile federal criminal trial last summer, his attorneys readily admitted Combs was physically violent with Ventura during the course of their decade-long relationship. “We own the domestic violence,” Combs’ defense attorney Marc Agnifilo told jurors in his closing arguments. “It happened.”
Over four days of testimony, Ventura detailed the “too many [times] to count” that Combs kicked, punched, dragged, and stomped on her, and surveillance video was shown of Combs stomping and dragging Ventura inside a hotel in 2016.
Former Danity Kane and Diddy-Dirty Money member Dawn Richard testified during the trial that during an industry dinner in 2010, Usher was present when Combs was arguing with Ventura before Combs punched his girlfriend in the stomach and sent her out of the room.
